Werlaburgdorf | |
|---|---|
 Location of Werlaburgdorf | |
  Werlaburgdorf  Werlaburgdorf | |
| Coordinates:52°03′N10°32′E / 52.050°N 10.533°E /52.050; 10.533 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Lower Saxony |
| District | Wolfenbüttel |
| Municipality | Schladen-Werla |
| Area | |
• Total | 12.01 km2 (4.64 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 100 m (330 ft) |
| Population (2012-12-31) | |
• Total | 770 |
| • Density | 64/km2 (170/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 38315 |
| Dialling codes | 05335 |
| Vehicle registration | WF |
| Website | www.werlaburgdorf.de |
Werlaburgdorf (German pronunciation:[vɛʁlaˈbʊʁkdɔʁf];Burgdorf until 1958) is a village and a former municipality in thedistrict of Wolfenbüttel,Lower Saxony,Germany. Since 1 November 2013, it is part of the municipalitySchladen-Werla.
The village is located north of theHarz mountain range, about 13 km (8.1 mi) south ofWolfenbüttel and 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast ofGoslar. It is situated between the forested Oderwald hill range in the northwest and the confluence of the Warne creek with theOker River in the east.
Werlaburgdorf has access to theBundesautobahn 395 motorway at theSchladen junction. The former station was a stop on the Warnetal railway line fromBörßum toSalzgitter-Bad until service discontinued in 1976. Todayheritage railway traffic is provided byDRB Class 41 andDRG Kleinlokomotive Class II locomotives.
Archaeological finds on the plateau above the Oker east of the village date back to theBaalberge group of theNeolithic. In the 10th century theGerman royalOttonian dynasty had the WerlaPfalz erected within theirSaxon homelands ofEastphalia, like the nearby castles ofGoslar,Dahlum,Grona andPöhlde. The assumption that the spur had been the site of a Saxonsacred grove andthing assembly has not been established.
According to theRes gestae Saxonicae by chroniclerWidukind of Corvey, KingHenry the Fowler in 924 or 926 was besieged here byHungarian cavalry during theirinvasion into Saxony. While the horses sank into the swampy area of the nearby river, Henry managed to capture a Hungarian nobleman—probablyZoltán, son of Grand PrinceÁrpád—and to reach an agreement on a nine-years-truce, after which he was able to defeat the magyars at the 933Battle of Riade. Henry's sonOtto the Great provably stayed at thePfalz five times. Upon the sudden death of EmperorOtto III in 1002, MargraveHenry of Schweinfurt and late Otto's sistersSophia of Gandersheim andAdelaide of Quedlinburg met with the Saxon princes at Werla, in order to promote the succession of the Ottonian dukeHenry IV of Bavaria against his rivals MargraveEckard of Meissen and DukeHerman II of Swabia.
Henry was crownedKing of the Romans (as Henry II) by ArchbishopWilligis of Mainz and finally acknowledged by DukeBernard of Saxony. From about 1005 he had theKaiserpfalz at the nearby silver mines ofRammelsberg in Goslar rebuilt, whereafter Werla's importance diminished. In 1086 EmperorHenry IV enfeoffed the estates up to the Oker to theBishops of Hildesheim in turn for their support during theInvestiture Controversy. A last stay of theHohenstaufen emperorFrederick Barbarossa to subjugate the Saxon princes upon the deposition of hisWelf rival DukeHenry the Lion is documented for 15 August 1180. The surrounding lands passed to the monastery ofDorstadt, in 1240 they were granted to nearbyHeiningen Abbey. Shortly afterwards the castle was abandoned and decayed during the following centuries, leaving no visible ruins. While the village ofBurgdorf arose in the west, the location of Werla fell into oblivion, though a chapel at the site was still mentioned in 1817.
In the early 19th century, speculations were made on the site of the historicPfalz Werla near the village of Werle nearKassow inMecklenburg or atWerl inWestphalia. Not until 1875, the foundations were re-discovered by archaeological excavations, confirmed by digs of theLeibniz University Hannover and theLower Saxony State Museum in 1926 and 1934 resp. Since 2007 the Lower Saxon state government has promoted the layout of an archaeological museum.
